T
The420Guy
Guest
MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay - This small, quiet, slow-moving nation does not make
much news.
But Uruguayan President Jorge Batlle has figured out a way to get headlines.
He has become the first head of state in the region - and one of the few
anywhere - to call for the decriminalization of illicit drugs. Batlle, a
blunt
free-market reformer, questions the costs and effectiveness of a drug war
whose primary theater of battle is Latin America.
"During the past 30 years this has grown, grown, grown and grown, every day
more problems, every day more violence, every day more militarization," the
73-year-old president told a radio audience recently. "This has not gotten
people off drugs. And what's more, if you remove the economic incentive of
the [drug trade] it loses strength, it loses size, it loses people who
participate."
If this were Colombia, Mexico, or another nation locked in mortal combat
with the drug cartels, the reaction would be fast and furious. The president
would be pilloried by rivals and the security forces. He probably would win
cheers
from some leftists and people who survive on the drug trade. The U.S.
Embassy would no doubt express concern.
But this is Uruguay. The debate over Batlle's endorsement of legalization
has been measured and civilized. The drug problem is growing but not
monstrous, so some Uruguayans have not paid much attention. And because the
president insists that his "philosophical initiative" will not affect
antidrug enforcement, U.S. diplomats have kept quiet.
Breaking ranks with U.S.
Nonetheless, a line has been crossed. Although Batlle's voice may be small,
the verve with which he speaks out on the issue at regional meetings of
presidents and journalists probably will contribute to a growing debate. A
Latin
American leader has broken ranks - at a crucial and difficult time - with
the hard-line antidrug campaign led by the United States.
These days, the term "drug war" is more appropriate than ever. Bolivian
troops are approaching their goal of eradicating the coca crop used in
cocaine production from a key jungle area - at the cost of deadly riots and
economic
hardship. Plan Colombia, the high-stakes, U.S.-funded attack on the cocaine
trade linked to Colombian guerrillas, is cranking into gear.
The plan makes the leaders of Brazil, Ecuador and other nations nervous.
They fear that violence, anarchy and displaced drug traffickers from
Colombia will spread through the region. Batlle has expressed similar
misgivings; he
suggests that it would make more sense to decriminalize drugs and deprive
narco-guerrillas of a multibillion-dollar business.
Concern over Colombia
"Look at the mess there is with Plan Colombia, where everyone thinks we are
going to end up in a war like Vietnam and there is a kind of global
psychosis," Batlle said recently. "And what are they going to do with Plan
Colombia:
give [billions of dollars] to Colombia to build schools and roads. What does
'Sureshot' [aging Colombian guerrilla leader Manuel Marulanda] care about
that?
Sureshot is not going to go to school; he's my age."
As the effort against drugs heats up in Colombia, the hemisphere's antidrug
strategy is in flux. The United States has acceded to pressure from foreign
leaders and has proposed phasing out its much-resented yearly certifications
of
countries' antidrug efforts; U.S. and Latin American leaders want to replace
the certification process with a multilateral evaluation developed by the
Organization of American States. U.S. officials have increasingly accepted
the Latin American argument that they must reduce demand for drugs, noting
that the
United States has cut use almost in half.
By espousing a far more radical change of direction, the Uruguayan president
joins an assortment of public figures in favor of legalization, including
billionaire philanthropist George Soros, former Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke
and Gary Becker, an economist at the University of Chicago and Nobel
laureate whom
Batlle knows and admires.
After winning a narrow election in late 1999, Batlle cultivated a reputation
for speaking his mind and stirring up Uruguay's staid political culture. He
declared war on a contraband business that he says relies on well-placed
allies in
government. He criticized the cushy salaries of public servants.
Most notably, he pushed forward - with initial success - an uphill effort to
deregulate and open up the economy in a country of 3.1 million that is a
bastion of old-fashioned leftist statism.
His 48 percent approval rating is remarkable, according to political
consultant Juan Carlos Doyenart, because Uruguayans are not enamored of bold
change and split their allegiances equally among three political blocs.
The talk about decriminalizing drugs is part of a plain-spoken, irreverent
style that serves Batlle well at home and draws attention overseas, said
Doyenart, an occasional presidential adviser.
"He enjoys himself, and he knows that with these things he wins popularity,"
Doyenart said. "This gives him a space to enact his neoliberal economic
policy. He is a sincere neoliberal; he believes in free markets."
The president's critics generally accept his argument that he wants to
provoke an intellectual debate rather than dismantle current laws. But
Congressman Alberto Scaravelli, Uruguay's former drug czar and its current
emissary to the antidrug council of the OAS, thinks Batlle is playing with
fire.
"The debate is fine, but I hope no one is going to get confused and think we
encourage drug consumption here," said Scaravelli, an ardent opponent of
legalization. "This was not part of the president's electoral platform. I
have been assured that there will be no softening of the laws. If there is,
I will be the first to stand and oppose it."
By Sebastian Rotella
LOS ANGELES TIMES
much news.
But Uruguayan President Jorge Batlle has figured out a way to get headlines.
He has become the first head of state in the region - and one of the few
anywhere - to call for the decriminalization of illicit drugs. Batlle, a
blunt
free-market reformer, questions the costs and effectiveness of a drug war
whose primary theater of battle is Latin America.
"During the past 30 years this has grown, grown, grown and grown, every day
more problems, every day more violence, every day more militarization," the
73-year-old president told a radio audience recently. "This has not gotten
people off drugs. And what's more, if you remove the economic incentive of
the [drug trade] it loses strength, it loses size, it loses people who
participate."
If this were Colombia, Mexico, or another nation locked in mortal combat
with the drug cartels, the reaction would be fast and furious. The president
would be pilloried by rivals and the security forces. He probably would win
cheers
from some leftists and people who survive on the drug trade. The U.S.
Embassy would no doubt express concern.
But this is Uruguay. The debate over Batlle's endorsement of legalization
has been measured and civilized. The drug problem is growing but not
monstrous, so some Uruguayans have not paid much attention. And because the
president insists that his "philosophical initiative" will not affect
antidrug enforcement, U.S. diplomats have kept quiet.
Breaking ranks with U.S.
Nonetheless, a line has been crossed. Although Batlle's voice may be small,
the verve with which he speaks out on the issue at regional meetings of
presidents and journalists probably will contribute to a growing debate. A
Latin
American leader has broken ranks - at a crucial and difficult time - with
the hard-line antidrug campaign led by the United States.
These days, the term "drug war" is more appropriate than ever. Bolivian
troops are approaching their goal of eradicating the coca crop used in
cocaine production from a key jungle area - at the cost of deadly riots and
economic
hardship. Plan Colombia, the high-stakes, U.S.-funded attack on the cocaine
trade linked to Colombian guerrillas, is cranking into gear.
The plan makes the leaders of Brazil, Ecuador and other nations nervous.
They fear that violence, anarchy and displaced drug traffickers from
Colombia will spread through the region. Batlle has expressed similar
misgivings; he
suggests that it would make more sense to decriminalize drugs and deprive
narco-guerrillas of a multibillion-dollar business.
Concern over Colombia
"Look at the mess there is with Plan Colombia, where everyone thinks we are
going to end up in a war like Vietnam and there is a kind of global
psychosis," Batlle said recently. "And what are they going to do with Plan
Colombia:
give [billions of dollars] to Colombia to build schools and roads. What does
'Sureshot' [aging Colombian guerrilla leader Manuel Marulanda] care about
that?
Sureshot is not going to go to school; he's my age."
As the effort against drugs heats up in Colombia, the hemisphere's antidrug
strategy is in flux. The United States has acceded to pressure from foreign
leaders and has proposed phasing out its much-resented yearly certifications
of
countries' antidrug efforts; U.S. and Latin American leaders want to replace
the certification process with a multilateral evaluation developed by the
Organization of American States. U.S. officials have increasingly accepted
the Latin American argument that they must reduce demand for drugs, noting
that the
United States has cut use almost in half.
By espousing a far more radical change of direction, the Uruguayan president
joins an assortment of public figures in favor of legalization, including
billionaire philanthropist George Soros, former Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke
and Gary Becker, an economist at the University of Chicago and Nobel
laureate whom
Batlle knows and admires.
After winning a narrow election in late 1999, Batlle cultivated a reputation
for speaking his mind and stirring up Uruguay's staid political culture. He
declared war on a contraband business that he says relies on well-placed
allies in
government. He criticized the cushy salaries of public servants.
Most notably, he pushed forward - with initial success - an uphill effort to
deregulate and open up the economy in a country of 3.1 million that is a
bastion of old-fashioned leftist statism.
His 48 percent approval rating is remarkable, according to political
consultant Juan Carlos Doyenart, because Uruguayans are not enamored of bold
change and split their allegiances equally among three political blocs.
The talk about decriminalizing drugs is part of a plain-spoken, irreverent
style that serves Batlle well at home and draws attention overseas, said
Doyenart, an occasional presidential adviser.
"He enjoys himself, and he knows that with these things he wins popularity,"
Doyenart said. "This gives him a space to enact his neoliberal economic
policy. He is a sincere neoliberal; he believes in free markets."
The president's critics generally accept his argument that he wants to
provoke an intellectual debate rather than dismantle current laws. But
Congressman Alberto Scaravelli, Uruguay's former drug czar and its current
emissary to the antidrug council of the OAS, thinks Batlle is playing with
fire.
"The debate is fine, but I hope no one is going to get confused and think we
encourage drug consumption here," said Scaravelli, an ardent opponent of
legalization. "This was not part of the president's electoral platform. I
have been assured that there will be no softening of the laws. If there is,
I will be the first to stand and oppose it."
By Sebastian Rotella
LOS ANGELES TIMES
